Argento, Tinto Brass and more
Hollywood’s American Cinematheque looks back on the wide ‘n wild diversity of genre pictures that came out of the ’60s and ’70s in Italian Grindhouse: Assault of the Deadly Celluloid, a film program running July 11 – 24 exclusively at the Egyptian Theater (6712 Hollywood Boulevard). Here are some highlights…
Saturday, July 12 – 7:30 PM
Giallo Triple Feature:
⢠4 FLIES ON GREY VELVET (4 MOSCHE DI VELLUTO GRIGIO), 1971, Paramount, 104 min. Michael Brandon is a rock drummer who thinks he accidentally killed the strange man who was following him. Mimsy Farmer is his high-strung wife, and Bud Spencer is “God,” Brandon’s pal who lives in a shack by the river. Soon a maniac blackmails Brandon with photos of the “killing” and begins murdering people in horrible ways, all set to a creepy Ennio Morricone score. One of Dario Argento’s hardest-to-see pictures. Don’t miss this super-rare screening! NOT ON DVD.
⢠BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (L’UCCELLO DALLE PIUME DI CRISTALLO), 1970, 96 min. Director Dario Argento’s debut feature was a huge success and codified the classic giallo thriller formula. Visiting American writer Tony Musante witnesses an attempted murder when he becomes trapped in an art gallery. He fails to glimpse the assailant’s face, but the black-clad killer starts dogging his trail when not busy dispatching beautiful women. Suzy Kendall is Musante’s girl. A great cast join in the fun, including disturbed gallery owner Eva Renzi, hit man Reggie Nalder and cat-loving painter Mario Adorf. With perhaps Morricone’s greatest giallo score.
⢠RED RINGS OF FEAR (ENIGMA ROSSO), 1978, 85 min. Director Alberto Negrin wraps up the SOLANGE trilogy in this giallo where more sexually precocious schoolgirls bite the dust. Fabio Testi is the police inspector on the murderer’s trail, and Christine Kaufmann is his girlfriend. Chock-full of red herrings, perverse twists, sleazy situations, outrageous dialogue and an out-of-left-field climax, punctuated by Riz Ortolani’s groovy score. (Screened from a digital video source.) NOT ON DVD
Thursday, July 17 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature:
⢠DEEP RED (PROFONDO ROSSO), 1975, 106 min. Dir. Dario Argento. From the opening with a child slashing someone and a bloody knife dropping to the floor, we’re plunged into an ever-deepening pool of repressed terrors. David Hemmings is a pianist sucked into an undertow of escalating homicide after he witnesses the murder of psychic Macha Meril. One of Argento’s most justly-famous gialli, where something as simple as a lizard writhing on the floor could represent a child’s wounded psyche, bound some day to erupt in spectacular fits of murder. With Daria Nicolodi.
⢠THE SECRET OF DORIAN GRAY (IL DIO CHIAMATO DORIAN), 1970, 93 min. Massimo Dallamano (WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO SOLANGE?) directs this Mod, super-trashy update on Oscar Wilde’s classic. Narcissistic youth Dorian (Helmut Berger) has his portrait painted by his artist friend Basil (Richard Todd). As time passes and he falls into an ever-more-decadent lifestyle, he remains perpetually young. However, his painting registers every bit of his depravity, drawing him deeper into an inescapable nightmare, culminating in murder. With Herbert Lom, Marie Liljedahl, Margaret Lee. NOT ON DVD
Saturday, July 19 – 7:30 PM
Super-Rare Tinto Brass Double Feature:
⢠DEADLY SWEET (COL CUORE IN GOLA), 1967, Cult Epics, 107 min. A psychedelic giallo by Tinto Brass, starring Ewa Aulin (CANDY) and Jean-Louis Trintignant. After finding his business contact murdered, a French actor protects the young woman he discovers at the scene and decides to hunt the killers himself. A mind-bending series of Pop Art visuals follows as he plunges into the London underworld, created by renowned erotic cartoonist Guido Crepax (Valentina). Unseen since its initial release, the film’s two leads went on to co-star in the legendary DEATH LAID AN EGG the very next year. In Italian with English subtitles. (Screened from a digital video source.) NOT ON DVD
⢠THE HOWL (L’URLO), 1970, Cult Epics, 93 min. A surrealist classic by Tinto Brass, filled with eye-shattering imagery, visual jokes, impossible characters, riotous comedy and punk rock well before its time. A bride escapes her wedding with a stranger, and together they trek though increasingly bizarre lands. They come across talking animals, mournful exhibitionists and a psychedelic hotel, instigate a prison riot, escape from cannibals and battle a wind-up midget dictator! Featuring Tina Aumont and Italy’s great clown Luigi Proietti, cavorting in the anarchist spirit of the 1960s. In Italian with English subtitles. (Screened from a digital video source.) NOT ON DVD
More updates and a full schedule can be found at AmericanCinematheque.com. Coming up at the Cinematheque, the annual Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Festival and a tribute to Stan Winston.
Source: American Cinematheque
